Dark Dreams and Great Nightmares
by RenamonRoxxx
Summary: Two friends wonder what goes wrong during an episode of their favorite TV show, but are even more shocked when the only survivor appears in their living room! Whats even crazier, she disappears and turns Ax into a Renamon! Read and review, i appreciate all feedback, tho go easy on the flames, its my first fic. NOTE: I STINK AT SUMMARY. :/ Will update every week
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

You ever wish as a kid you could be your favorite superhero? I know you did. Running around the yard pretending to be flying around or fighting bad guys, that sort of thing. Then you grow up, go to school, graduate, and get a job. Then, as you're working one day, you realize. You wish you were that superhero again, to vanquish your enemies with extreme prejudice. Today was one of those days.

"Axel! Have you finished stacking those cartons YET?! It's almost closing time, hurry up! I'm not paying you overtime."

That was my 'boss', Assistant Manager Chad Keller, or Killer, as I called him. He was weaslelly, power hungry, and for some reason, in a position of authority. He set outrageous deadlines for his employees just so he could show off for the higher ups. He practically groveled before them when they showed up, something that made me hate him even more. I grumbled under my breath something about vanquishing, but kept working.

I finally finished stacking said cartons a few minutes later and punched out, only to have Coach Killer intercept me on my way out. There was only one thing this could be about. _Not again… _I thought miserably.

"Hey, we are a bit shorthanded since layoffs, and we're gonna need you on a Saturday. You mind coming in?" asked the simeball, a clearly fake apologetic look plastered on his face. _Like I have a choice. _I groaned inwardly.

"Okay."

He smiled that weaselly smile, one I so desperately wanted to wipe off his smug face. "Thank you, see you tomorrow."

Ugh, I hate him. I picked up my check from the front desk and hit the bank on my way home. Home, for me, was a small two bedroom house away from the main road, set in the mountains of northern Georgia. I split the rent and the place with my best friend, Max.

It may have been small, but it was tricked out on the inside. We had a big TV, leather couch and recliner, full kitchen with neat area for a soda bar style thing, every gaming console one could imagine, and an unnecessarily large sound system. We each took a room, filling it with our own stuff. Aside from what lined the bedroom walls, we pooled our cash to buy everything in the house. We never fought over it though. It was always thought of as 'our stuff', not 'my stuff'. I walked in the door and hung up my keys. Max had already made it home from his job, playing a game on the big screen.

"Whazzup bro? How was work?" I asked him as I pulled my shoes off by the door. Yeah, I talk like that. So what?

"Nothing much, it was boring and exhausting. How 'bout you?" he replied, not taking his eyes from the screen.

"Killer got me working this Saturday again."

"What? Seriously? That guy needs to ask someone else for a change; this is like the fifth time."

"I know, but we need the work. I had to say yes. But I agree with you, I wish he'd ask someone else."

I grabbed a coke from the fridge, and poured it in a glass with some ice, then walked over to the soda bar to add a shot of lime to it. I walked back to the couch and flopped down, opting to grab a controller and drop in for some co-op. After an hour or two, I coerced Max into watching another Digimon Tamers episode. Yeah. So, the childhood superhero told you about? I wanted to be a Digimon Tamer. So what? I'm a digimon fanatic, I know, but it was cool to me and it kept me from burying Keller in the backyard, so all's well.

I was making a fan out of Max too; he'd already seen all of Adventures seasons 1 and 2, and now I we were at the end of Tamers. I'd seen the series several times over, but stayed quiet so as not to spoil it for my friend. We were currently watching the last episode, around the part where Sakuyamon and Justimon were trying to destroy the giant green-headed D-Reaper agent with sickles on its arms. Ryo suggested that Rika send all of her power to his blade, and after a brief moment of arguing over the fact it could kill him, she conceded and gathered the energy. The energy lanced out to Justimon, but as Ryo struggled to channel it, the screen died black, flashed white, then flicked back on. It seemed like it was just a scratch on the DVD or something, so I didn't sweat it too much, until I saw what happened. The agent hadn't moved in the original series, still gathering its power to resist the oncoming attack. THIS time, the agent reared back one of its sickled claws, and smashed it into Sakuyamon in her weakened state. The attack instantly separated the mega to Renamon and Rika, the duo crashing into the ground a good distance away. I jumped up out of my seat.

"THAT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! I'VE SEEN THIS A MILLION TIMES, THAT HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!"

"Rika!" Ryo shouted out. The sight of her taking that hit had distracted him for just a split second, but it was enough. The energy sparked and arced across his body and he lost control, resulting in a massive explosion of energy that wiped out the agent. Henry barely managed to escape the blast, Megagargomon's form heavily damaged. Tacatto had already merged with Grani to Crimson Mode, and had engaged the D-Reaper's twisted Jeri clone. He turned in time to see the explosion that killed his friend. Seeing an opportunity, the clone attacked Tacatto, but he fought back valiantly, and the clone seemed to realize it would soon be defeated.

After taking yet another hit, the D-Reaper clone bounced back to the main body, gauging its next move. It noticed Megagargomon trying to recover and launch the Juggernaut program, and decided to take advantage of this opportunity, releasing as many of the most powerful agents it could muster. Henry was barely able to defend himself, much or less be able to launch the program. As soon as Crimson Gallantmon turned to help his friend, the twisted Jeri clone fired a fiery bolt of light from its mouth into his back, wounding him deeply. Weakened, Gallantmon was assaulted yet again by the clone, and this time, he failed. Guiomon and Tacatto separated, and the D-Reaper finished them off. With him gone, the clone turned its attention to Megagargomon, and joined his agents in separating and destroying Henry and Terriermon.

Rika and Renamon were all that were left, and dismissing them, the D-Reaper sent a squad of firing agents to end what was left of the team. As they approached, Rika struggled to stand, and looked in her hand to see a white card. Renamon seemed to know what it was, and nodded for her Tamer to swipe the card. The card slid through the device, and Renamon began to glow a blinding white. There was a sound of building energy, and with a bright flash, the vixen was gone. The redhead looked up to see the firing agents reach firing distance, and stared defiantly up at them as they destroyed their only target left.

Max had ignored my outburst at first, but now was just as upset by the events as I was. What the hell was that? It was almost as if someone twisted had completely rewritten the end story, and swapped the DVD or something. But somehow, it had seemed to real to be a hoax or something. And there was that flash…

Before either of us could do anything, a bright light appeared in front of us, so bright that it nearly blinded us. As we blinked our eyes to adjust, the light slowly faded, revealing something neither of us ever expected. There, lying barely conscious, was a Renamon. And not just any Renamon, THE Renamon, scars still fresh from her encounter with the D-Reaper. They glowed bright blue and leaked streams of data. Me and Max had the same reaction.

"What the…"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

We both just stared for a moment, eyes riveted to the still glowing scars that covered her torso and legs. I snapped out of my trance.

"Get some water! And some electrical tape, that should help with the wounds. Now!" I shouted at Max. The sound of my voice snapped his eyes away from her and he ran to get the requested items from the kitchen. I knelt down and lifted her head to give her the water, she seemed to wince, but at least she was coming to.

I coaxed the water down her throat, and helped her to swallow. As strange as it was, there was no denying that she was real. The feel of her fur, the twitch of her muscles, and her ragged breath were all too real, too vivid to be anything else but real. I'd worry about the implications of digimon in the real world later. Right now, she needed our help. I bandaged the wounds with the tape, which seemed to at least slow the flow of data from her body. She slowly opened her eyes to look at me.

"Thank you…" she whispered haggardly. She took another sip of water, and spoke a bit clearer. "I appreciate your help, but I am afraid I don't have much time. "

After the hit she took, I could see why. This had to be the same Renamon. Nothing else made sense.

"I will do my best to explain. I am a digimon, a digital being not from this realm. I was fighting with…"

"The D-Reaper, we know." I said, interrupting her. "We saw you. Don't know how, but we did."

She looked to the screen, which hadn't been shut off in the commotion, still flashing images of the D-Reaper's advance on her world. Her eyes filled with sadness for a moment, but she quickly hid it and nodded.

"Well, I don't know how either, but those pictures are from my world all right. That card you saw Rika scan? That was a digital gate card, and it was supposed to send me back to the digital world. I ended up here for some reason, I can't even imagine why."

I stared hard at her. "Something went wrong with that battle. You were never hit by that agent. It braced itself for the attack by Ryo, and survived long enough to be sucked back to the digital world by the sovereigns. There was no explosion, Henry launched Juggernaut, and Tacatto beat the Jeri clone. All of that changed when you were hit. It was a rash move that the D-Reaper would never have risked. Do you know what caused it to act like that?"

She returned my solid look, and seemed to debate telling me something. She stared at me for another moment, and spoke.

"I DID sense some kind of disturbance, almost like someone was out of phase. But _very_ out of phase, like a level not even I could reach. At least it seemed that way. It only flashed for a brief second, and soon after that I was hit. I don't know, I might even be imagining the whole thing. I do know this, and that is I no longer have the strength to fix the damage. It is up to you now. If what you say is true, then there is still hope that the D-Reaper can be defeated. Please, avenge my death and the death of my friends, and save my world. I cannot protect them any longer. Even now I feel myself slipping…" As if to demonstrate her point, she seemed to burst into tiny pixelated particles, and reformed back. She was barely holding together under the strain. She looked up at me. "Do you promise? Do you promise to help me?"

As her eyes bored into me, searching for a truthful answer, I met her gaze and said the only thing I could.

"I promise."

Max nodded his head and spoke as well.

"We will track down whatever caused this, and put a stop to it, you have our word."

She smiled; a rare thing for the Renamon. "Thank you. To help you on your journey, I give you my data and my core. Take them, and use them to do what I couldn't. Protect my friends, and protect my world. I thank you again, Axel Keenan. Goodbye." She closed her eyes with that final word, and her body began to slowly dissipate.

The data started to flow in a circle around me, revealing a glowing white sphere where the vixen used to lay. I began to float a few inches from the floor, feeling the data around me, holding me there. The core slowly rose from its resting place and moved toward me. I felt it as it passed through my shirt and made contact with my chest, and felt as it slowly sank past my skin. As it did, it spread its glow over my entire body. I could feel the power, the immense power of that core, her very life force flow through me. I finally felt it reach my heart, and in a blinding flash of light, the two merged. The data swirled around me even faster now, and began to spread its way over my arms and legs, across my chest, and around my head. As the last of the data drifted into place, the glow began to fade, and I slowly came to rest on the floor. The lights flickered back on, and I blinked my eyes to adjust to the sudden change. I looked over at Max, who had gone silent. He was staring at me, mouth agape and in shock. I cocked my head, confused as to his reaction.

"What?"

That's when I realized it. I looked down at my hands, which now only had three digits, each tipped with a claw. And were covered in fur! My entire body was now covered in dark blue fur, from head to… TAIL?! Sure enough, a long, flowing blue appendage swished around behind me, twitching as if it had a mind of its own. I had a stripe of white fur from between my thighs up to my chest, which now had a large tuft of the white fur like a mane. My forearms were covered by emerald green gauntlets, leading up to broad shoulders graced by winglets. I had paws, not feet, with three clawed toes. My head was now foxlike, with eyes that had shifted from white to black with icy blue irises, and long ears that twitched to any remote sound. My hearing seemed to have vastly improved, along with sharp vision and reflexes. I flexed my arms. They held untold power and strength, and when I coiled my legs, I felt the same. I also had the ability to sense other people's presence, like I could feel them there, but without touching them. The whole experience was surreal. I was freaked out and intrigued at the same time.

The fur, the tail, the paws, the power, it all led to only one conclusion. I had become Renamon. My masculine set chest and bone structure revealed that I was still a male, a fact I was very grateful for. I wasn't the same colors either, with blue fur instead of yellow, with green gauntlets instead of purple. I was still me, there was no voice in my head telling me what to do, and Renamon wasn't controlling me. I was just no longer human.

As soon as that last thought went through my mind, I did what any normal person would do in this situation. I flipped out.

**Hello everyone, RenamonRoxxx here. Just a by the way, these chapters will come daily until I have gotten you all the chapters I already have written. Then, the updates will be weekly, as best as I can. I'm not perfect, lol. So, read and review, it's my first fic! I CRAVE your reviews. If you think something could be better or just plain old liked the story, send me your thoughts. I will respond. Thank you, Rena out.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Max obviously saw the panicked expression plastered across my face.

"Dude, don't freak out on me!"

Yeah right.

"Aaaaaagggghhhhh! Dude! How am I not supposed to freak out right now? I'm covered in fur! FUR! I only have 3 fingers now, I have a freaking _tail_, and I'm pretty sure the only way I can be identified as a guy is by my voice! What the hell? What the hell? What am I gonna…"

I was cut short of my rant by a hard slap across my face, snapping me out of my hysteria.

"Ow," I said, rubbing the spot where the medicine was administered.

"You can NOT freak out on me right now," Max said with a glare at me. "At the very least, you don't have control over your abilities right now and can trigger them without meaning to. For all we know, you could've launched a diamond storm at me. I woulda died. You can freak out all you want once you can control your powers. Control first, panic later."

My eyes went wide with panic again. "Oh, my, god. I can do a Diamo…"

I was cut off again as this time he had clamped a hand around my mouth. Or muzzle. Hmmm.

"Don't say that. Like I said, even that could accidentally set it off. Just relax, stay calm, and for god's sake don't say any of Renamon's attacks. Okay?"  
I nodded my head, seeing as he still had a vice grip on my jaw. He released my mou…, uh, muzzle, and I got up and walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water. With any luck it'd drain out the caffeine from that soda I had earlier. If it was even still in my system. As I was working that problem through my brain, I had reached for a glass but wasn't paying any attention. I had grabbed the glass with the tips of my fingers, which now had claws. The sound of breaking glass brought me back from my current state. _Crap, _I thought. _I gotta be more careful now. _I reached for another glass, keeping my claws out of the way this time. I pushed the glass against the water dispenser on the fridge. You always had to push a little to get it to work, and again I reacted without thinking. _**SMASH! **_

Another two glasses later, Max finally took down a metal cup and filled it for me.

"Thanks," I said sheepishly. "I don't know my own strengths."

He shrugged, and got a broom to sweep up the glass. I wanted to do it, I felt bad. But I'd probably smash the counters and dent the floor if I tried. I sighed and held the cool glass to my forehead as I tried to work through the facts. Max finished sweeping and joined me on the barstool next to mine. Still holding the glass to my forehead, I half opened an eye and looked over at him. He seemed to be eyeing me up, critiquing my new form. I didn't blame him; I'd do the same thing in the mirror later. I sighed again, and spoke calmly for the first time since the change.

"Okay, so, after a few mental and bodily checks, I have decided I am fully digimon. I have no more… human left. Don't know if I will ever look human again. I know I will never _be_ human again. Not really too bad of a thing, Renamon is my favorite digimon after all. I probably have special attacks; don't know if they're the same as the one in the show. I am blue after all, and she was yellow. My mind seems the same, still as slow and nonfunctional as ever. Some things never change. And I guess that I won't be able to go to work tomorrow, meaning Killer now has to find another victim. As a matter of fact, the only downside I see is that now I have to figure out how to play video games with only 3 fingers." I smiled at my friend beside me. "What do you think? I'm not the only one who has to live with this. You have to live with me too. So? Spill it."

Max regarded me for a moment, then sighed much the same way I had a moment ago. "Well, I guess it isn't so bad. Money'll be a bit tight, but I think we can manage. We might even be able to dress you up and get you a heavy lifting job, if it comes to that. I mean, how often do you get to see a Renamon in real life? Much or less every day, if you really can't change back. I suppose not much of our lives changes at all. Well, except for one thing. We need to train you."

After a withering glance at him, Max held up his hands in a sign of surrender.

"No, no no. Not like that. I mean, get you used to your abilities. Like I said, I don't want an accidental diamond storm breaking even more glasses. Or me, should you get frustrated. Plus, we might someday making good on that promise, having to fight the D-Reaper. So, training, as in learning how to fight, and well. K? Not like a dog. Unless…" He paused, a fiendish grin growing on his face. "Unless you want a treat."

I gave him a dead serious 'that is so not funny right now' look, which only made him laugh harder. I gave him a slight punch in the shoulder. Or at least, it would have been, had I been human. It actually sent him flying off the bench and onto the floor. He stood up, rubbing his shoulder, and now it was my turn to laugh inappropriately. He punched me in the arm with his good one, and I didn't even feel the impact. This of course, made me laugh harder. As a result, he hit me even harder, with everything he had. I felt a slight thud, but no pain whatsoever. He scowled at me, and eventually I calmed down enough to apologize, sort of. He deserved it, making it out like I'm some sort of pet. After a grouchy apology from him, we both agreed to head outside and relieve our anger on our surroundings. Or training, as he called it.

A few minutes later, I stood by a tree we had in our backyard. Since we lived a good few minutes from town, our backyard bordered a forest and the neighbors lived a good distance away. So, in other words, we could destroy things loudly without bothering anyone or attracting attention. Neither of us went outside much, we opted to play games and talk, so we really didn't have much of a problem busting up the stuff back here. I wanted to test out my strength and speed before trying any kind of special attack, so after examining some particularly tough looking rocks I opted to try punching a small tree near the border; the very one I was standing by. I figured it would hurt, but it seemed like a good way to test just how much stronger I had gotten. Without any further procrastinating, I reared back my fist and smashed it into the wooden obstacle. I fully expected a dent, if that, in the tree and a bruise on my knuckle. My fist connected with the tree, went completely through it, and my momentum caused me to stumble and punch through another tree. And what is more, I felt NO pain. There was some serious power here. I looked over to Max with a huge grin on my face. Max looked as surprised as I was. If I was that strong…

I gave him a fiendish grin and ran as fast as I could from the now fallen trees to him. It was a good couple hundred feet, but I covered it in little over a second. I almost ran into him, but I stopped on a dime a few inches from his face. He almost fell over backward.

"Well, I have super strength, insane speed, and you can add super reflexes to the list, judging by that last second stop." I said, still exhilarated. I wasn't even sweating yet! Though, I honestly had no idea if even could do that anymore… anyway. I had one last thing I wanted to test before I tried any special attacks. Renamon was able to jump up several story buildings in only a few bounds, and I wanted to try it. Just, not so high. I looked over to the roof, which was a good 15 feet off of the ground, and back at Max. He grinned, and nodded. I coiled my legs, gathered my strength, and leapt as hard as I could. 5 feet! 10! 15! 20! 25. Uh oh. 30. 35... 40! I peaked at about 3 times my house's height, and started a freefall.

_Crap! _I thought as I started to fall back toward the roof. _Even with my strength, this is gonna hurt. _I panicked and flailed my arms but at the last second before I hit the roof, I felt almost like a primal force. Like it was urging me to do something. I stopped thrashing, righted myself in the air, adjusted my legs, and landed on the roof. _Silently._ I didn't hear a thud when my feet hit the roof, and a quick glance at Max told me he hadn't either. He was staring at me again, mouth agape. _Oh, I could get used to this. _I smiled and gestured to him with my chin.

"You're catching flies; you might want to close that."

He snapped his jaw shut quickly_. I doubt he'll make fun of me now._

Okay, now was a good time to try out my abilities. I warned Max to stand back; I didn't know how much control I was gonna have over this. Having no idea how to proceed, I mimicked what I saw in Tamers. I jumped, lightly this time, and held my arms out as I called out the name of the attack.

"Diamond Storm!"

Instead of launching a storm of diamonds while hung in midair, however, I simply fell back to the ground heavily, making a loud thud when ii hit.

"Well, that didn't work," I said to Max, disappointment lacing my voice. I looked over at him. "Any ideas?" He seemed thoughtful for a moment, staring off into space. He set like that for a minute before he finally turned back to me.

"Well, I can't think of any ways to trigger a diamond storm, short of pissing you off and running like hell. What did you do when you were falling up there? You seemed pretty panicked until the last second. Then you got this calm look on your face and landed _perfectly_. Even now, you made a pretty loud thud landing back on the ground. What changed?"

I thought that over for a moment. He was right, I did panic. But it seemed like as soon as I lost control, something was telling me what to do. All I had to do was listen to it. It was like it took control for a brief second, and then left without a trace. I looked over to Max.

"I think I have some kind of instincts almost built in or something. Whether all Renamon have it, or it was that Renamon's training coming back to me, I have no idea. All I know is that when I panicked and lost control, it was almost like it took over and did what I needed to. Then it was gone."

Max nodded, almost as if taking what I said in. He seemed lost in thought again, but seemed to come to a conclusion this time. "I think that those instincts, or whatever they are, are the key. If you let go and let it happen, I think that not only the special attacks, but the fighting skills, reflexes, battle knowledge, and things like that will kick in. All you have to do is just try to direct them and plan ahead. Think about your moves, but let your instincts actually do them. I'm not being very clear; do you understand what I'm saying?"

I cocked my head to the side. I think I got it. I think about doing it, and then my body reacts. I shouldn't try to control every single movement. Almost like a general ordering his troops. Wow, he was good at this stuff. I smiled and nodded. I'm glad I got it so quickly. He looked relieved that I had understood him, any longer and he might have tried to explain again, only confusing me and himself further.

I tried again, this time following Max's advice. I focused on the words, and like magic I jumped up and raised my arms. I shouted the name of the attack as I directed it into the trees I had recently knocked down.

"Diamond Storm!"

I felt power build up around me, and the crystals that had flash-formed around me suddenly became charged with energy. With a final thought, I sent them flying into the bark of the fallen trees, each one imbedding into the wood. A split second later they all detonated at once, completely obliterating all traces that those trees ever existed.

I grinned, quite proud of myself for getting the hang of it. I tried another attack, one that few people who watched the show actually caught.

"Power Paw!"

My entire hand glowed, cloaked in an ethereal blue fire, and I used it to smash into one of the older trees on the border. It stood about 50 feet tall and about 2 feet in diameter. With a loud crack, the mighty tree slowly fell in the direction of the forest, completely cracked through at section I had hit with all of my might. Man that felt good. I looked over at Max, triumphant grin still plastered on my face.

"Much better, where would I be without ya?"

He smiled back. I had said it jokingly, but he knew that I meant every word. "Same here, Ax."

The moment was broken up by a bright ball of light that suddenly appeared in the air above Max's head. No. Way. This couldn't be happening. It slowly drifted down to him, and as soon as it touched the skin of his palm, the glow faded. He looked shocked at first, and then grinned like an idiot. He held the device up to show me. Now _I_ stood in shock. In his hand he held a stark white digivice, which could only mean one thing. Well, this was weird.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey all! I would like to thank Jake Wolf and jerome292 for their reviews, they are literally my first and i appreciate any and all feedback. To answer your question jerome, he does need a Tamer for reasons later in the story, and result of the data AND core melding with him made him completely digimon. Hybrids would probably come from just the data, an idea i am toying with at the moment. So, read and review, if there is anything you think needs changing, please let me know! Rena out.  
**

Chapter 4

Being pretty well aquainted with digimon, neither of us required any explanation on what it was or how it worked. It wasn't too active though, I noticed. I voiced this concern to Max, and he agreed. This one seemed to be dead.

"Maybe you can charge it up with your energy or something." The blonde offered. I shot him another look.

"I'm not some kind of battery, ya know. Here, let me see it for a sec." He held it out to me, but as I gripped the device to take it from him, he wouldn't let go. "Dude, seriously? Let go."

"It's not me!"

I tried to yank my arm away, but I couldn't budge either, as if some invisible force was holding me in place. The device's screen flashed a bright white, and we both noticed and stopped struggling. I facepalmed, an unusual process as I now had to avoid scratching myself with my own claws.

_Duh, the digivices probably had some sort of bonding process conveniently left out of the TV show._ A metallic male voice came from the device in question.

"Tamer-Digimon bonding process initiated. Tamer: Max Powers. Digimon: Renamon. Metaphysical bond detected, initiating bond realization."

The digivice hummed for a moment like an overworked computer, an odd sound seeing as it didn't really seem to be doing anything.

"Metaphysical bond realized. Initiating DNA/Data bonding."

"DNA/Data bonding complete, finalizing Tamer-Digimon tethering."

I felt a slight pinch on my finger tip, and saw Max wince in a similar manner. The device hummed again, both of us waiting patiently for the process to finish.

"Tethering complete, Tier one bonding, complete. Switching to standby mode."

The devices screen faded to black, but as it did, the color of the device changed to a dark blue with emerald green accents, a lot like my fur. As soon as the color finished applying, the device released us. We looked at each other as the fact that we were now partnered, human and digimon, not just friends anymore sunk in.

"I'm your… Tamer. Huh." Max said slowly. He looked sheepishly at me, probably wondering if I'd use my newfound powers on him just for saying that. As much as it pained my pride, it was true. BUT, there was one thing I wanted clear.

"Yes, your my…Tamer." I almost choked on the word, but continued nonetheless. "But remember. For us to be as good as we can be, we have to view each other as equals. You can't act all superior over my just because you have a title, it'll weaken us like it did Rika at first. Also, I can't think myself any better than you, even though I have all these new powers. We need each other to make this work, so really, nothing's changed. Only now, the better friends we are, the more power we have."

He nodded in agreement, and I stuck my hand, er, paw out to him. He grasped it and we both leaned it til we were eye and eye with each other. We spoke at the same time.

"Brothers forever."

We broke apart, and I broke the silence by punching him lightly in the shoulder. "So, not bad moves, eh? I probably can do some pretty sweet fighting moves and stuff too, so we got a lot of training to do, but I have to say. Not bad for a first day as a digimon."

He rubbed his shoulder, wincing. Looks like I hit a bit stronger than I'd intended.

"Oooowww. I guess so. Man, you gotta ease up a bit, that hurt!"

We talked and joked through the night, like we always did, playing video games til it got late. He beat me at the first few games we played as I was still coordinating myself with only three fingers. However, once I got the hang of it, I used my sharpened reflexes that came with the new powers and quickly made up for any and all loss. As we both wound down, we shut the system off and headed to our respective rooms.

I walked into mine and shut the door, lying down on the bed. It was still weird, being a digimon. I was by no means used to it; I was just able to _act_ normal about it now. I settled down under the covers, not bothering with clothes for the time being, and tried to rest. The feel of the blanket on my fur was weird too, but ignored it, stuffing it in a closet with a list of other discomforts. One of which was a nagging need to feel someone, anyone, asleep next to me. This was weird, because I normally hated sharing a bed, but now I felt like I hated sleeping alone, like I needed someone with me. Realizing this was yet another development of my new form, I sighed deeply, knowing it was just too awkward to ask Max about.

_Oh great, something new._

I branched out, using my sense to comfort myself with my friend's presence. It wasn't much, but it was something, and slowly I closed my eyes and started to drift off.

_Goodnight Max, see you in the morning._

"What the hell?!" Max's shouted suddenly. My eyes snapped open as Max opened my door.

"What did you just do? I just heard your freaking VOICE in my HEAD!"

I stared at him, dumbfounded. "Did I say, 'Goodnight, see you in the morning.'?"

"Yeah! Scared the crap outa me too. You can't read my thoughts, can you? I mean, you put one there, so…"

I shook my head. "No, I wasn't even trying to talk to you. I was just focusing on your presence with my senses and thought goodnight to myself. Maybe you can do it too, try it."

He closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated. Hello? Is it working?

I did the same as max, trying to project my thoughts this time. Yeah. Well, this is interesting. I don't even want to deal with this right now, I need some sleep.

He nodded in agreement, rubbing his eyes. "Goodnight bro."

I shut my own eyes again, trying to go back to sleep. "'Night." The need was still there, so I felt out his presence again, but this time I was careful not to project my thoughts at him. It gave me a small amount of comfort as I drifted off.

**In the middle of the night**

_A faint light came from somewhere inside the small house, unbeknownst to either of them. The light pulsed and surged as it emitted from them, a blinding white light crisscrossed with darker grid lines. The light grew brighter and brighter until with a final flash it disappeared around the pair without a trace. The blankets slumped back on the beds, their occupants vanished. The house lay empty for what could be a long, long time._


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! K, gonna give you a rundown of the stories to give you an idea of how i will update from here on out. I will TRY to update twice a week from now on, but i cant promise anything. I am running two stories right now, so if you like this one CHECK OUT THE OTHER ONE! I have a third in the making, and have all 3 written out a while ahead, but have to edit them as i put them on my computer. As such i will probably update once a week, but i will make every effort to do both stories twice a week. So, read. Favorite if ya like it, Follow it if ya want more chapters. And if you have an idea or see a mistake, REVIEW! I love feedback. As a heads up, the next part may seem a bit cliche, but stick with it. You WILL be surprised.  
**

**Axel: Yeah, yeah, yeah, drama this and update that and so forth. Give them the chapter already!**

**Rena: Fine. Get back in the story.**

Chapter 5

I awoke groggily the next morning, felling a bit colder than usual. I curled myself up next to the warm form beside me, wrapping my tail instinctively over us.

_Better…_

_Wait a minute. I slept alone last night._

I snapped my eyes open to see I had my head on Max's stomach, curled up beside him with my tail across his waist. I jumped up, totally freaked out by the fact I had curled up next to max, as well as the fact I had a tail. I was half-expecting to go to work today. Slowly I remembered the tail was mine because I was a Renamon, and that pretty much meant work was over. I'd have to call and quit today…

All of these realizations came to me in a fraction of a second as I had forgotten my current state and shoved away from the bed at full strength. This, for a Renamon, meant I was flung into the far wall. The force was also enough to shove Max out of the bed as well, landing with a thud against the floor. Lucky him. I hit the wall hard and fell to the even harder floor. I picked myself up as my, uh, Tamer, did the same. Never gonna get used to that.

"Jeezus, what are you doing in my room? You scared the heck outa me."

I didn't respond, instead rolling my shoulder and stretching. I honestly had no idea how I had gotten into his roo…Hold on a sec. Max noticed my panicked expression I had yet again.

"What is it THIS time?"

I turned a wild circle, ignoring him. He did a double take of his surroundings too. We weren't in his room, or my room for that matter. Or even the same house. We were in a completely different, and much larger bedroom.

I looked over to Max to see the same panicked look I had plastered on my face yesterday.

_Now who looks panicked? _I thought smugly. Well, I was freaking out a little too, but compared to changing species, well. This wasn't that bad. Max on the other hand…

"Oh my god! Oh my god! I'm freaking out! What the hell? How'd we get here? Where are we? Where we kidnapped? Would knockout gas even work on a Renamon? How do we get home? Why were you curled up next to me? Are you even real? Am I dreaming? In a coma? Am I dead? Is this heaven? Is this hell? Is…"

I finally managed to calm him down, the same way he did me. A slap. I had to be careful, hence why his tirade went on for so long. Not hard enough would only make it worse, and too hard would either bruise, break, or dislocate his jaw, and possibly even knock him out or kill him. Not to mention my claws, had to keep those carefully out of the way. But, nonetheless, it had the desired effect. "Ow. Thank you. Man that really works. Well, no use sitting here waiting for something to happen. Let's go get some answers. "

With Max's head on the level again, we walked over to the bedroom door, which was not locked.

"Rules out kidnappers," I remarked opening the door to an empty hallway. We did a thorough examination of the empty space. There were two doors, one was an empty closet, the other was a bathroom, equipped with shower, toilet, sink, and mirror. Cautiously we made our way down the staircase at the end of the hall to a large open room. One half was a fully equipped kitchen, minus the utensils, and the other half was a large living room with a dilapidated old couch and rotten entertainment center missing a TV.

The back door was in the kitchen, and the front was in the living room. There was a small backyard upon inspection through a back window, but through the front window…

"Oh no," I said, staring at something in the distance. Max joined me by the window.

"What?"

I pointed to the two, tall, sinister looking buildings that stood above all the rest, reaching into the sky in the distance. "Those are the HYPNOS towers." I looked into my friend's eyes as it sunk in. We are in Digimon Tamers. This is Western Shinjuku."

We both sat down on the couch, so we didn't pass out but the room was spinning for sure. I shook my head only to bury it in my hands. I calmed down enough to think straight for a minute, running through our situation.

"So, the Tamer's universe. Well, at least I don't have to deal with Keller anymore. I wonder how we're gonna make money. If it matters, even. I have no idea where we are in the storyline, though it is probably safe to say that this isn't the one we saw on the TV, the D-Reaper woulda sucked up this area already. So that's good." I tried to speak as level as I could, and slowly but surely the fact I was in the story slowly began to become fact. "We both know what's going to happen if it's in the beginning, so we can help the process along. Plus, I can make good on my promise. I just don't want to mess with the plot too much, who knows what could happen."

Max seemed to perk up a bit, so I pushed on. "I mean, hey! Some people only dream of being put into their favorite TV shows like this. And now, we get to _live _it! Even you gotta admit this is cool."

He smiled, coming to. "Yeah, I guess it could be worse. I WOULD like to know how we got here though. And you brought up a good point. How _are_ we going to make money?"

I grinned wide. "I have a theory about that. Let me see… Diamond Storm!"

I held back the power I normally flooded the diamonds with, and they moved much slower, clattering to the floor. I picked up one of the shards and examined it. "Yep, real diamonds just charged with energy in the attack. After that, they are just gemstones. Unless you blow up the energy stored inside, of course. What? Don't look at me like that, I was on a Renamon forum, and they theorized that if the shards didn't explode that they may actually be real diamond, so I looked up the difference to sound smart on the forum." I held up a shard to distract him, grinning like mad. "Money problems, over."

He grinned, taking the shard from me and turned it over in his palms. "Well, we still need to hit a jeweler, and tell him that these are some kind of family heirloom or something so as not to attract attention. That should give us the money we need to hit the store and do some shopping. I'm pretty sure this house is abandoned, given the couch and state of disrepair so I think we can live here. We can buy some furniture and decorations to spruce it up a bit, some clothes for us and some kitchen stuff, food and maybe even a few of Shinjuku's video game systems. Plus, some modify cards, I think you're going to need them if we are going to live here. I hear it can be… hazardous."

I chuckled and stood, walking over to the door before Max stopped me from turning the door handle.

"You just can't walk around town, at least not until HYPNOS is on our side, they might find you and use you for their experiment with juggernaut. After that, maybe we can probably get away with Takato's costume excuse. Until then, can you remain out of phase like Renamon?"

I shrugged, and closed my eyes and focused. I let go of my reactions, trying very, very hard to be invisible. I walked a few steps to my left and opened my eyes. Max was staring right at me. Sighing, I hung my head. Not everything works the first time I guess.

"We'll have to pick you up a disguise. I'll bring you a set of baggy clothes when we hit the store. It should do for now."

I nodded and walked out of the door, jumping to the nearest shadow.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello again and first off let me apologize for the late update. As an apology I will be posting a new chapter to BOTH stories tomorrow along with this one today, so go nuts! I thank you all for your reviews, and will do my best to answer any and all questions you may have. Jerome, I especially thank you for the loophole you pointed out and I did some research. For now, the jeweler is the gemologist you need to get a certificate, and will examine them. Seeing as they are made digitally first, though, I believe they would be near perfect and they should have no problem being sold. Andreas, hold that thought, it is addressed in the next chapter! As for any other questions, keep reading! ALL WILL BE REVEALED. Muhahahahaha…**

**Axel: Really? Evil laughing? What are you, Myotismon? Here, if you won't, I'LL post the chapter.**

**NO, DON'T CLICK THAT!**

Chapter 6

The jeweler was extremely surprised, and was more than happy to take the diamonds after he examined them. According to him, they were flawless. Max didn't bother mentioning the fact they were like that was probably because they were made digitally. After we left his place with a sack of cash (we gave him a REALLY good deal), we dropped the main bulk back at the house well hid, and headed over to nearby mall to spruce up our place. Max went inside while I hid around the corner, and within a few minutes he emerged with a pair of baggy green cargo jeans, a large black hoodie, and the biggest set of shoes he could find. I put them on with a bit of difficulty, lacing up the sneakers as best I could to my large but stumpy paws. It was weird, but after a few test stomps, it didn't seem that bad. He grinned and held out the final piece to my disguise: two thick gloves that would hide my hands without drawing too much attention. It wasn't exactly ideal, but I took off my gauntlets (yes, you can take them off) and put on the gloves, giving my 3 digits and experimental flex.

The getup was uncomfortable as hell, but it worked. As long as I kept my face hid under my hood, it covered every inch of fur, allowing me to walk around freely without fear of people noticing. We went inside and purchased what we'd need for the house, walking out to a moving truck filled to the brim with food, a couple sets of clothes for Max an a few tees I picked out for around the house, everything a guy and a Renamon might need for personal hygiene, a couple smartphones (I mean, c'mon. we were practically rich), kitchen ware, a new couch and new leather recliner, and coffee table, and dining room table with matching table chairs. It also held the fruits of a trip to the electronics department, where we went nuts and bought a 46" flat screen TV, a killer sound system that cleared out a lot of the cash filling our pockets, and a couple video game systems (yes, a couple, stop judging me).

We hitched a ride to the house and within a few hours we were completely unpacked inside, fridge stocked, electronics hooked into a wall not giving any electricity. So, we set up our phones and made a few calls, and got the electricity and water turned on. NOW we were in business. After all the hard work, I was ready for some down time. I yanked off the disguise and kicked it behind the door, then flopped down on the couch and stretched out.

Max smiled and shook his head, motioning me to put the uncomfortable clothes back on. I groaned, protesting to my Tamer but eventually I ended up walking out with Max anyway.

"Where are we going?" I complained in a surprisingly childlike manner.

"You'll see."

After another 20 minutes, I found out. We strolled right in to a Nissan dealership with a wad of cash, and drove off the lot in a Nissan GT-R . 545 horsepower from its 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6, driving through a six-speed dual-clutch transmission to all four wheels to reach sixty in less than three seconds and a top speed over 190 mph. Oh yeah. The whole thing was bought free and clear. Maybe this Renamon thing wasn't such a bad thing after all. Aside from the smartphones and sound system, it was the only real thing we spent money on. And even then, hey, a few minutes saved when driving to a digimon emergence could save a life.

Comforting myself with that thought, we sped in style behind tinted windows to our true destination, a digimon merchandise store. Max shut off the engine and walked inside, me trailing him behind him. They had ALL manner of digimon paraphernalia from cards to fake digivices to toys to costumes. There was _anything_ and _everything _a digimon fanatic like me could ever dream of. I went wide eyed, eying the merchandise with absolute glee. Without thinking, I pulled back my hood revealing my furred head and muzzle. Max took in a sharp breath, but the only one who noticed was the cashier who was grinning wildly.

"Niiiiceee costume dude. You make it yourself? Man, you gotta make me one, but with like, Red fur or something."

I smiled and thanked him, going back to gawking at the many things that lines the shelves. After a few more minutes of staring like a kid in a candy store, I was rudely yanked away to the modify cards to pick out a decent fighting deck for me. I scanned over the cards, completely lost. I know, I know, 'How's a digimon fanatic not know all about the card game?' Well, I was broke up until I roomed with Max, and even then we were pooling cash to buy stuff. I never really got to try the cards, but I guess with the sudden change in currency I could now.

Well, given our complete lack of knowledge we enlisted the help of the clerk, who helped us pick out couple decent starter decks to play the game, and the booster packs to get us on the right track. He gave a strange look when we asked for modify cards he would recommend for a Renamon, but nonetheless suggested we go for speed and agility. The strategy played on their strengths, Renamon were incredibly quick and intelligent. We ended up picking up hyperchip, hyperspeed, hyperwing, crystal fire, and digivolution cards. We also bought a contingency strategy, with a few power, targeting, stamina, armor, alias, and goliath cards. Never know when you need to troll, hehehehe. My biggest fear was Max wouldn't get a grip of the cards and I would end up like Guilmon. I shuddered at the thought of the horrible things the red dinosaur had to endure until Takato realized random card swiping didn't help.

With those thoughts burned permanently into my brain, I tried to get my mind off of it by turning back to the piles of digimon heaven that lay around me. I picked out a few posters, several of which were Renamon, from the large stacks. I passed up the costumes, I mean really. A fake digivice would seem kinda pointless, and the plushies were just too much. I DID however like the more realistic action figures, so I picked out a few Renamon I liked and a couple others like omnimon and wargreymon. I topped the stack off with a few t-shirts with crests on them and a learner's guide to the card game, just in case. Max added a few curious items to the mix, one of which was a kit for kids to dye their clothes like characters or digimon from the show. I didn't think he was going to use it on himself, so I needed to watch my tail when I slept. LITERALLY. We paid for our stuff and walked back to the GT-R, which seemed strange for digimon fanatics get into a car like this I guess. I mean, the other cars in the lot were minivans and broken down old clunkers. We cruised home and no sooner than we were inside did I pass my bags to Max and flop down on the couch. I was asleep in a heartbeat. Max just smiled, putting the bags down on the counter and walked up into his own room, locking the door out of habit. The sounds of snoring quickly filled the house.

Cold. I was freezing cold. For some reason, I was never warm enough anymore. No matter how hot it was, no matter how many blankets I had, I was still cold. I shivered, barely under the surface as I slept. I wasn't even getting rest; I was just wearing myself out. I shifted positions and pulled the covers tighter around myself, immediately feeling better and quickly slipping into REM my body desperately needed.

I woke up the next morning, at first with a start, but more calmly once I realized that this was our new home. I lazily slipped back under the blanket, letting my eyelids droop.

_I have got to get used to the new house. I mean, I woke up in the same bed yesterday._

I came inches from going back to sleep before my eyes snapped open.

_Wait, I slept on the couch._

I did a double take of my surroundings, my eyes focusing on what I thought was the back of the couch. It was actually Max. Yet again, I had moved ridiculously close to him with my tail unconsciously draped over us. This time I handled it a little better, only shoving _myself _off the bed. He woke up after the brief shove, doing a similar double take of me as I stood up.

"What the… I thought you were sleeping on the couch."

"So did I," I retorted. "I just, woke up here. I felt cold last night, I remember that. But I was fine once I pulled my blanket back up a bit."

Max stared me dead in the face. "Ax, you were asleep in a heartbeat when we got back. You didn't have a blanket. On top of that, I locked my door last night. There is no other way in here."

I stared blankly back as the fact hit me. I had gotten up in the middle of the night, and, without waking, made it up stairs and through a locked door. An undamaged, locked door. I wonder…

"Do you think I phased up here? It makes sense. I just did it in my sleep, acting on instinct since I was only half awake. Renamon must really not like sleeping alone."

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Listen, okay. I don't like this anymore than you do, but I can't sleep anymore. I am going to try sleeping alone again tomorrow, but if I wake up here, you're just going to have to deal with it. We're both going to have to get over this; I need my sleep and you need someone AWAKE to deal with rouge digimon. Max sighed and nodded, but shot me a quizzical glance before he got up.

"Listen, I get the whole 'alone' thing, but why are you curling your tail over me? It's kinda weird."

I didn't think it was possible, but I blushed. I didn't have an answer for his question, and frankly, it the whole thing bothered me too. I flatlined, unsure of what to say. Before either of us could say anything, however, I was sucked into a pitch black void and spat back out in almost an instant. I blinked, suddenly realizing I was in the living room.

What just happened? Did I just… Only one way to find out. I looked for the trigger, focusing on the kitchen. Suddenly I was pulled through the void again and into the kitchen.

_Sweeeeeet. I could get used to this._

All you needed was the right mental trigger. Who knows, I might even learn how to go invisible like Renamon. Meantime, I pulled out the pan and started on breakfast.

Max ambled down the stairs a few minutes after I finished, having showered and dressed for the day. He spotted the plate of food I'd laid out and thanked me, previous awkwardness forgotten, and dug in. I had already finished eating, and decided now would be a good time to go upstairs and try showering for the first time as a Renamon. My fur was starting to stink.

I had bought a couple bottles of a good men's shampoo in anticipation of having to wash my ENTIRE coat, and I was dreading the time and effort it was going to take to clean my fur. I walked into the bathroom, giving it a once over. It was small, but complete, with a toilet, sink, mirror, a shower, and a Japanese style bathtub.

I felt like I needed to take my clothes off before I stepped in, but I guess I just walked around without any now. I pulled off my gauntlets and set them down on the counter, the only piece of clothing I wore anymore. I don't think I will ever get used to being a digimon. I turned on the faucet and got the water temperature about where I wanted it.

_Here goes nothing…_

Without further ado I stepped into the streams of water, already starting to soak my fur. It started to mat against my form, making it seem like I was wearing weights, but nonetheless it felt nice. I opened the bottle of shampoo and started the long task of scrubbing the soap into my fur. I used the time and tedious task to relax and go through a few things in my mind. Showers always helped me do that.

This was the tamer's universe, I was sure of it, but I didn't know exactly where we fit in in all of this. Were we replacing the original team with two other new kids? Were we the only replacements, and if so, for who? Takato? Rika? Henry? Were we even replacing anyone at all? Would the story be different? If it wasn't, where were we in the storyline?

I gave those thoughts a rest, it wasn't helping me relax at all, and each question brought up two new ones. Instead, I turned to more productive thoughts. No matter how we got here or what was going on we could do a lot of good. Messing in ANY storyline seemed like a bad idea, but I could think of a few things that could go better.

First off, Rika needed an attitude adjustment WAY earlier than before. She needed to suck it up and learn that without her partner she was nothing, and that caring and bonding with them is her made them more powerful. The juggernaut was bad news. It needed to be made, but not used until D-Reaper, even if then. It would be a last ditch if I couldn't beat the dang thing on my own. Stopping juggernaut would keep the Devas from coming through too; they were far too advanced to get through the cracks in the barrier before the program almost destroyed it. As a matter of fact, the Devas would never be a problem if Zuquiomon stopped trying to send them here. If we went to the digital world and actually beat him, it would go a long way toward proving digimon and humans were meant to exist peacefully together to him.

Yamaki was another problem. He needed to be beat, just like Zuquiomon, for him to be any good to us. Once he realized his precious creation had failed, he decided the only other people who could protect the city were the tamers. Then he became a powerful ally. If he was to realize this BEFORE he launched, maybe that would do it. AS for the D-Reaper, well. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I just hoped I could keep it out of the human world and from getting out of that pit it had dug itself in the digital one.

All in all, I think this was gonna work out great. Maybe even along the way we can find a way to get back home after all of this. I can't believe I adjusted so quick to leaving my own world and coming to this one so quickly. Maybe the insane amount of fanfictions I read had something to do with it.

After mercilessly scrubbing at my fur for what seemed like an eternity, I finally got it completely clean. I rinsed every ounce of soap out from between the fibers, and shut off the water. Right before I left the shower, an idea came to me. I braced myself on a support bar in the shower and gave my whole body a shake like a dog, starting at my head and working all the way down to my tail. I grinned like an idiot, stepping out after the limited success. I grabbed a towel we'd bought yesterday and began finishing up the job, drying every square inch of my fur til I didn't feel it against my skin anymore. I had to switch towels twice, soaking them completely. This was turning out to be a chore. I looked in the mirror, startled by my striking resemblance to the dog I had as a kid, Shelby, after we had captured her and stuffed her in the bathtub for a bath she didn't want. I sighed and reached for the special pet brush I had bought yesterday and began to brush and comb my scraggly fur coat. It took all of my pride when I had bought it; I knew normal brushes wouldn't do the job right. I finished the demeaning task, taking my appearance in as I gazed in the mirror one last time. My fur shined brighter than the day I got it, finally clean and silky once more. I sprayed my gauntlets with a leather cleaner, wiping them down inside and out. I pulled them back on, flexing my fingers as I gave myself one final glance in the mirror, and stepped out of the bathroom after the whole hour-long ordeal.

Max was just relaxing on the couch, messing around with his phone when all of a sudden I stopped dead in my tracks. I felt something prick my senses, a presence. Far off, and definitely not human, which could only mean one thing. Max's digivice beeped a warning, and a few clicks later confirmed it.

"We've got a bio-emergence. Something's coming through," Max said, peering at the screen. "Wonder what it is…"

I stared in the direction the field was in. "Only one way to find out."


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, apologies people. I know i said i would post 2 chapters the next day, but a combination of family crisis, snow, and a ragged job have impaired my writing abilities.**

**Ax: Dude, excuses. I've seen what you do. Get over it.**

** Ow, okay, i deserved that. I have the chapters written, i promise, i will edit one for Equality by the end of the day if i can. Thanks for your patience, and i have enabled you to give me flames over this. Sorry! Here is the next chapter.**

Chapter 7

A quick trip in a slick new car and we made it to the emergence zone in record time. I walked out of the car and peered into the cloud of digital fog, trying to see in. My vision was good, but not that good. Max would need something to protect his eyes. Now was a good time to unveil my present. I turned to Max and stuck out my paw holding a bonafied, genuine pair of goggles. I'd snatched them from the mall when Max wasn't looking, running them through the checkout in a pile of stuff. A huge grin spread across my face.

Max looked from the goggles, to me, back to the goggles, and back to me. A glance at the fog, back to goggles, and back to me. He rolled his eyes and took them from my hand, sighing as he strapped them over his head. I bought the most stylish pair I could find, but even still, I could barely keep from laughing as we stepped though the field. As my eyes adjusted, I noticed a form began to assemble slowly in front of me.

It was small, about half my height. As it took shape, claws, a reptilian head, and T-Rex like feet formed on the figure. As the details fell into place, it finally clicked. It was an agumon, the annoying one from the first season. As soon as it dropped to the ground, it immediately looked around and spotted me, then ducked its head and charged. A rouge agumon, mind you. I dodged to the left as quick as I could and he ran past me into a nearby street pole, plowing right through it like it was nothing. Geez, I'd have to be careful, this guy was close to digivolving; I could feel it.

Now what? Would those fighting abilities kick in? Could I keep control of them? Would I even beat him? All these thoughts flooded my mind, making it difficult to focus. I calmed down, letting those thoughts go, clearing my mind of only one thing. Fighting. I felt a primal energy build, muscles tense, and my consciousness pushed aside all in a second. My eyes snapped open, a fire in them like never before.

The agumon spun from its wild charge, turned and charged at me again. This time, he opened his oversized maw, back of his throat lit bright orange.

"Pepper Breath!"

I hated that voice. I dodged to the side again, using the momentum from the maneuver to spin and land a fluid kick to the creature still blatantly charging at me. It hit him dead in the chest, sending him flying back into a nearby dumpster. As he was struggling to get back to his feet, I ran forward and uppercut him hard in the chin which sent him into a nearby wall. He stood up yet again, but this time it was quicker, easier. A blue aura enveloped him, and he roared in defiance and charged at me yet again.

_Crap… _I thought miserably as I narrowly dodged his reckless tackle. _He's getting stronger by the second, any minute and he'll be digivolving! If he does that I'm screwed. I gotta take him out this next hit._

He spun once again, and without warning spat another fireball in my direction. I didn't have enough time to dodge this one, and the fiery sphere grazed me left shoulder. I howled and gripped my shoulder, watching one final time as the digimon tried to ram his head into my ribcage. It sent me over the edge. I jumped into the air, the furious digimon harmlessly passing beneath me. I turned midair to face directly at him, feeling power build up higher than I ever expected. I snarled in rage, gathering every last ounce of energy I had, and closed my eyes.

"Diamond Storm!"

Shards flew outwards from my arms, glowing brighter and brighter as they built charge, then sped towards to the enraged dinosaur, each finding its mark and imbedding in its thick skin. I landed gracefully as the creature fell from the impact, and with a dismissive flick of my wrist, detonated the diamonds. The dinosaur disappeared in a powerful flash and a cloud of data.

A nod from Max gave me the go-ahead to absorb the data. I closed my eyes and felt it slowly load into my system, flowing through my veins, building up my power. As soon as the data was gone, the fog dissipated, and I floated slowly back down to the ground. I felt, good. Despite the graze, which the data had almost completely healed, I was fine. Better than fine. I was great. The data, the power, was intoxicating. I felt so much stronger, faster. I had to be very careful I didn't get addicted to this power, but damn, it felt good. Max grinned ear to ear, he didn't even have to use a card. Before either of us could say anything, I felt a couple of people heading our way, not all human.

"Max! We gotta get outa here! The tamers are on their way! They are gonna think I am the emerged digimon and try to kill me! What if they can digivolve? Let's go!"

We climbed into the car and took off, leaving a cloud of dust as we sped back home. The fighting side slowly faded, and my normal self slowly took back control. It was weird, but I guess it was just the normal Renamon instincts kicking in, taking control. It was still me, just a kick ass version of me. As I thought about what happened, I realized how close I was to losing that fight. I'd need to train, and Max needed to learn cards, otherwise next time might we might not be so lucky. If he'd digivolved, that'd been it.

We sped towards home, still riding the high from our first victory. "Wow, you were amazing! That attack was epic! How'd you even do that?"

I shrugged, trying to come up with an answer. "I don't know, it just sorta happened. I don't exactly control it, it's the instincts. It's like a gun, and all I have to do is point and it fires."

"Whatever it is, it's cool."

"Hey, Max?"

"Yeah?"

"When we get back can we try that card game? As good as it looked, it was close. Too close. I'd feel a lot better if you could use those cards without reading the description every time."

"Yeah, okay, I guess we could try it."

We pulled in the driveway and shut off the engine. Max got out of the car, stretching.

"Afterward, maybe we could even do some training, show me some moves. I can't let you do all the work."

He threw a few fake jabs in the air for emphasis, knocking a fake foe in the jaw. I chuckled, but it meant a lot to me that he'd fight hand to hand with a digimon to protect his partner. Emotional moment over though, I agreed to try to teach him what I could. We both tracked down the game and manual and after much reading, debating, and examining the cards, we eventually got it down and set up to play.

It was rough at first, and there was a lot of arguing and rechecking the rules, but it didn't last long. We sat around for a few hours, as we matched and rematched over and over. Max thankfully caught on quick with the modify cards, and soon was wiping the floor with me with combos I never even thought of.

After a particularly one sided game, I caved. "Alright! I give! Momentai! Momentai!" The game wasn't even close. I planned on revisiting the manuals and surf the net for tips on how to beat him next time, but for now I conceded defeat. He enjoyed his victory, making me clean up the game as I packed away all the cards except the ones he now tucked neatly away on his belt.

I sighed and stretched as I stood from the table to get a quick drink. I knew now would be a good time to train, but I had no idea how to go about doing it. I walked out to the backyard while Max flipped on the TV, taking it in for the first time. It was decent, about the same as our last place, bordered by brick walls instead of trees this time. I took a deep breath, trying to sink into my instincts.

_C'mon Renamon, let's train. Show me._

At this point I had already slipped into my fighting instincts, my normal rationale shut down, but I could have sworn I got a reply.

_**Okay.**_

I took a pose, still breathing deeply, exhaling into another pose as I fluidly moved my arms and legs. I shifted from pose to pose a few more times, bringing me back to my first stance again. I slowly started picking up speed, moving faster and faster through the poses. By the third time through, to anyone watching, I looked like I was actually fighting a mock opponent in front of me. All the while my eyes were closed, focusing on the balance and precision needed to perform these maneuvers so quickly. It felt good, like the data. I felt it stored away, deep in the sinews of my muscles, begging to be tapped. Part of me wanted to. Part of me knew what that would happen if I did. By now I had sped up so fast my kicks and punches had become nothing but a blur.

I wanted to let it out so bad, fists flying and body weaving, wanted to let the power out. With a final surge, I threw a final punch, connecting powerfully with nothing but the air as I panted from exhaustion. Even with my newfound energy, muscles still got tired. I tramped back inside, personality restored, and showered before I sat down to lunch

Somehow, without me knowing about it he had watched me train earlier, and was absolutely stunned as to my knowledge, speed, and execution of martial arts.

"Wow dude. It was insane. I should have taped it, it was like some kind of yoga or something at first but faster and faster and it looked more and more like fighting until the end when you were moving so fast I couldn't even see your arms. It was EPIC. How did you do that?"

I gave him an eye, still eating, to answer his question, which was a stupid one I'd answered a million times already.

"Right, instincts. Sorry. Anyway, it was cool. I wish I could do some of those moves."

We finished eating and stacked the plates to be washed next to the sink, leaning back in our chairs. It was still early in the day, around one, and I pondered about what to do with the rest of the day. Suddenly, it hit me.

"What the heck are we sitting around for?! Let's go meet the Tamers! Tacatto first, if they haven't become friends yet. If all the tamers are friends already, all the better! I have a decent knowledge of the digital world, so I can pass off as a digimon that emerged for you, and be able to answer any weird questions. Just call me Ax, it'll throw Rika off if she is still acting like, well, a bitch. But I mean, come on. Even you can't resist knowing where we are in the storyline!"


End file.
